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Aug. 30-Sept. 5:
Covid
Numbers remain unpromising
The Cape May County Health Department’s Sept. 3 report points to some positive indicators in the Covid numbers. It notes an 11% decrease in weekly new cases, a decline in the rate of transmission, and the fact that on three of seven days this past week, the county saw less than 40 new cases per day.
These improvements come in a less appealing context. This past week saw over 300 new cases for the fourth week in a row, meaning it was another week where the seven-day average was over 40 cases per day.
There are 580 active cases among county residents, 567 in the general community, and 13 in long-term care facilities. There were four new Covid fatalities this week, ranging in age from 29 to 87.
August presented the county with 1,481 new cases, 11 fatalities and moved the active case total from 193 July 30 to 580 now. The culprit is the highly transmissible delta variant, which now accounts for 98% of all new positive sequence tests.
Some local venues started requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test for admission.
Vaccination progress slowed this week
Cape May County boasts a 62% fully vaccinated rate for its total resident population. The pace at which county health officials were able to add to that total has, again, slowed. This week’s report shows 537 new fully vaccinated individuals among county residents compared with 730 the week prior.
National health officials say that a third booster shot for the fully vaccinated will be necessary and may start as early as Sept. 20. The state may begin reopening mega-sites as locations for delivering the booster shot to the 5.5 million New Jerseyans who thought themselves fully vaccinated.
School begins
With schools across the state about to start a new academic year, Gov. Phil Murphy imposed new requirements. Along with the school mask mandate from earlier in August, Murphy added a requirement that all teachers and staff at public and private preschools and K-12 institutions must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 or participate in regular testing. The new mandate generated mixed reviews from county residents.
Elsewhere in the nation, several schoolstarts have hit speed bumps almost immediately. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report on an outbreak at an elementary school in Marin County, California, where an infected teacher rapidly spread the virus. The CDC report states that “the attack rate in one affected classroom was 50%.”
At least 45 school districts in Texas and 22 in Kentucky were forced to temporarily end in-person instruction due to Covid outbreaks. Both states have lower overall vaccination rates than New Jersey.
Ivermectin
The most recent drug in the Covid culture wars is Ivermectin, a medication used to treat parasites.
Pre-Covid, the number of Ivermectin prescriptions written for humans in the U.S. numbered about 3,600. For the week ending Aug. 13, that number was staggeringly higher, at 88,000.
There is even a case in Butler County, Ohio, where a woman sued to force a hospital to treat her husband with Ivermectin. A common pleas court judge ordered the hospital to begin treatment.
The use of the drug for Covid treatment was a hot news story all week, with the American Medical Association issuing a statement on why Ivermectin should not be used for the treatment or prevention of Covid.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported a spike in calls for Ivermectin problems, many associated with overdoses.
The CDC felt it necessary to issue a health advisory related to the rapid increase in Ivermectin prescriptions and reports of severe illness associated with the use of the drug to treat Covid.
The Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance, a non-profit organization founded by an Ohio physician, is one of the organizations that promote the use of Ivermectin for Covid treatment and prevention.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a Frequently Asked Questions list on its website that clarifies what it considers to be approved treatments for Covid infection.
Economic Rebound
Early evidence from the county’s tourism department is that summer 2021 saw an economic rebound. Occupancy tax collection was even higher than in the record-setting 2019 tourism year.
Despite the spike in Covid cases and an inability to fill several seasonal and permanent service jobs, the economy responded with a strong summer that will hopefully translate into a successful shoulder season.
Ida
Hurricane Ida caused enough destruction to have its name removed from the list of potential future storms. Making landfall in Louisiana as a major hurricane, the storm crossed the southern and eastern U.S., retaining enough power to cause billions of dollars in damage and claim over 60 lives in the Northeast. Luckily, the storm largely bypassed Cape May County.
Murphy said Ida proved the state needs a new “playbook” for these kinds of events.
“The world is changing,” Murphy said.
Census
The census figures showed that Cape May County lost less population than earlier predictions indicated. Those numbers also gave evidence that the island communities continue to lose permanent population. The census figures showed the county numbers were helped by unexpectedly high population growth in Middle Township.
The county, while still largely White, saw its White-only population slip as a percentage of the whole. There was growth in the Hispanic population and among those who self-identify as being of two or more races. The county’s Black population declined.
Spout Off of the Week
Middle Township – To the neighbor on Stagecoach Road in CMCH please rehome your rooster….
Read more spouts at spoutoff.capemaycountyherald.com.
West Cape May – Blaming DEI for the California wildfires is classic Trumper behavior – making an assertion with no facts or real analysis with more than a whiff of racism. But I guess they would rather do that than…
